Information
Composer: Joseph Haydn
CD1:
Sandrine Piau, soprano (Gabriel)
Mark Padmore, tenor (Uriel)
Neal Davies, bass (Raphael)
Peter Harvey, baritone (Adam)
Miah Persson, soprano (Eve)
Chetham's Chamber Choir
Gabrieli Consorts & Players
Paul McCreesh, conductor
Date: 2008
Label: Archiv (Deutsche Grammophon)
http://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/cat/4777361
CD1:
- (01-14) The Creation, oratorio, Hob. XXI:2 - Part I
- (15-26) The Creation, oratorio, Hob. XXI:2 - Part II
- (01-06) The Creation, oratorio, Hob. XXI:2 - Part III
Sandrine Piau, soprano (Gabriel)
Mark Padmore, tenor (Uriel)
Neal Davies, bass (Raphael)
Peter Harvey, baritone (Adam)
Miah Persson, soprano (Eve)
Chetham's Chamber Choir
Gabrieli Consorts & Players
Paul McCreesh, conductor
Date: 2008
Label: Archiv (Deutsche Grammophon)
http://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/cat/4777361
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Exciting, moving and wonderfully sung, this big band Creation is a triumph
Haydn and his librettist Baron van Swieten conceived The Creation as the first bilingual oratorio and would surely have been perplexed that Anglophone record-buyers seem to prefer the work in German. The main problem, of course, is that the Baron’s command of English failed to match his self-confidence, prompting many attempts to improve on the original. On this new recording, Paul McCreesh’s emendations are less radical than those on the two other available versions in English (from Simon Rattle, 4/91, and Robert Shaw, 12/92), but on the whole more successful, retaining all the Milton-inspired quaintness of van Swieten’s text while rectifying his mistranslations and clumsy Germanic word order.
Language apart, McCreesh’s recording differs from its period competitors – Gardiner (Archiv), Harnoncourt (DHM), Spering (Naxos) and Christie (Virgin) – in scale: where they typically use a smallish professional choir and an orchestra of around 50, McCreesh pits a 113-strong band against a chorus of similar numbers. Abetted by the glowing, spacious acoustics of Watford Town Hall, the big celebratory choruses make a more powerful impact than in any of the rival period versions. Occasionally – say in the rollicking fugue in “Awake the harp”, here done at a constant fortissimo – I would have welcomed more nuanced dynamics. But there is no denying the incandescence of the climaxes to “The heavens are telling” and the final “Praise the Lord, uplift your voices”.
In all the choruses McCreesh’s pacing – eager but never hectic – and rhythmic energy are wonderfully inspiriting. He is acutely responsive, too, to the work’s mystery and awe, daring, and vindicating, slower-than-usual tempi for “Chaos” (launched by the most apocalyptic of timpani rolls), the Sunrise and the first morning in Paradise, celestially evoked by the Gabrieli’s trio of flutes. A pity, though, that he allows the cannon-fire timpani to pre-empt Haydn’s cosmic blaze at “light”.
McCreesh’s trump card is his solo team, superb both individually and as an exceptionally sensitive ensemble. I can’t recall ever hearing the trio near the close of Part 2, “On thee each living soul awaits”, sung with such radiant inwardness. Other highlights include Sandrine Piau’s graceful, smiling “With verdure clad”, here a truly happy song to the spring, Mark Padmore’s tender legato in Haydn’s portrayal of the first woman, and Neal Davies’s deep, velvet softness in “the limpid brook” and his hieratic reverence in the sublime arioso “Be fruitful all, and multiply”. Peter Harvey, supple and lyrical, and Miah Persson, with a touch of sensuousness in her vernal tone, are beautifully paired as Adam and Eve. The less consistently cast Rattle recording sometimes generates more fun. But for a Creation in English, this new version – exhilarating, poetic and marvellously sung – becomes the prime recommendation.
-- Richard Wigmore, Gramophone
More reviews:
ClassicsToday ARTISTIC QUALITY: 10 / SOUND QUALITY: 9
MusicWeb International RECORDING OF THE MONTH
http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/hc25/
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/mar/14/classicalmusicandopera.shopping3
http://classicalsource.com/db_control/db_cd_review.php?id=5700
http://www.musicalcriticism.com/recordings/cd-creation-0308.shtml
https://www.allmusic.com/album/haydn-the-creation-mw0001579395
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Haydn-Creation-Joseph/dp/B000YA536M
Haydn and his librettist Baron van Swieten conceived The Creation as the first bilingual oratorio and would surely have been perplexed that Anglophone record-buyers seem to prefer the work in German. The main problem, of course, is that the Baron’s command of English failed to match his self-confidence, prompting many attempts to improve on the original. On this new recording, Paul McCreesh’s emendations are less radical than those on the two other available versions in English (from Simon Rattle, 4/91, and Robert Shaw, 12/92), but on the whole more successful, retaining all the Milton-inspired quaintness of van Swieten’s text while rectifying his mistranslations and clumsy Germanic word order.
Language apart, McCreesh’s recording differs from its period competitors – Gardiner (Archiv), Harnoncourt (DHM), Spering (Naxos) and Christie (Virgin) – in scale: where they typically use a smallish professional choir and an orchestra of around 50, McCreesh pits a 113-strong band against a chorus of similar numbers. Abetted by the glowing, spacious acoustics of Watford Town Hall, the big celebratory choruses make a more powerful impact than in any of the rival period versions. Occasionally – say in the rollicking fugue in “Awake the harp”, here done at a constant fortissimo – I would have welcomed more nuanced dynamics. But there is no denying the incandescence of the climaxes to “The heavens are telling” and the final “Praise the Lord, uplift your voices”.
In all the choruses McCreesh’s pacing – eager but never hectic – and rhythmic energy are wonderfully inspiriting. He is acutely responsive, too, to the work’s mystery and awe, daring, and vindicating, slower-than-usual tempi for “Chaos” (launched by the most apocalyptic of timpani rolls), the Sunrise and the first morning in Paradise, celestially evoked by the Gabrieli’s trio of flutes. A pity, though, that he allows the cannon-fire timpani to pre-empt Haydn’s cosmic blaze at “light”.
McCreesh’s trump card is his solo team, superb both individually and as an exceptionally sensitive ensemble. I can’t recall ever hearing the trio near the close of Part 2, “On thee each living soul awaits”, sung with such radiant inwardness. Other highlights include Sandrine Piau’s graceful, smiling “With verdure clad”, here a truly happy song to the spring, Mark Padmore’s tender legato in Haydn’s portrayal of the first woman, and Neal Davies’s deep, velvet softness in “the limpid brook” and his hieratic reverence in the sublime arioso “Be fruitful all, and multiply”. Peter Harvey, supple and lyrical, and Miah Persson, with a touch of sensuousness in her vernal tone, are beautifully paired as Adam and Eve. The less consistently cast Rattle recording sometimes generates more fun. But for a Creation in English, this new version – exhilarating, poetic and marvellously sung – becomes the prime recommendation.
-- Richard Wigmore, Gramophone
More reviews:
ClassicsToday ARTISTIC QUALITY: 10 / SOUND QUALITY: 9
MusicWeb International RECORDING OF THE MONTH
http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/hc25/
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/mar/14/classicalmusicandopera.shopping3
http://classicalsource.com/db_control/db_cd_review.php?id=5700
http://www.musicalcriticism.com/recordings/cd-creation-0308.shtml
https://www.allmusic.com/album/haydn-the-creation-mw0001579395
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Haydn-Creation-Joseph/dp/B000YA536M
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Joseph Haydn (31 March 1732 – 31 May 1809) was a prominent and prolific Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the piano trio and his contributions to musical form have earned him the epithets "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet". Haydn's work was central to the development of what came to be called sonata form. At the time of his death, aged 77, he was one of the most celebrated composers in Europe. Haydn was a friend and mentor of Mozart, a teacher of Beethoven, and the older brother of composer Michael Haydn.
***
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_McCreesh
http://www.gabrieli.com/about-us/paul-mccreesh/
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CD1
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